


Sweep away

by Haileyst



Series: While it hurts [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Cooking, Domestic, Established Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Headcanon, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Maybe fluff, Multi, Nostalgia, Other, Uzushiogakure | Hidden Eddy Village, although I'd really want to, i can't write that to save my life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-12
Updated: 2019-11-12
Packaged: 2021-01-29 11:41:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21409609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haileyst/pseuds/Haileyst
Summary: Shikamaru crawls back from a mission from hell and is reminded of all the good and bad that awaits him back at his flat.No, not his flat, mother, it's my boyfriend's flat.
Relationships: Nara Shikamaru/Uzumaki Naruto, Umino Iruka & Uzumaki Naruto
Series: While it hurts [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1543381
Comments: 5
Kudos: 241





	Sweep away

**Author's Note:**

> It's a sort of sequel to the Importance of Hairbrush but you don't need to read it to understand this one. The verse is still in progress! :)

It was past three o’clock in the morning when Shikamaru stumbled back to Konoha, the two genin he was stuck babysitting limping after him. The two of them were slated for the next exams or field promotions, but they needed a bit more experience with listening to their superiors. At least that was their esteemed Hokage’s excuse when she sent them off. And Shikamaru was still unquestionably certain that this punishment was meant for some other jonin, but he was the nearby unlucky sod and got it instead. So, after he signed himself in, rudely gestured at Izumo and Kotetsu, who were for once stuck on night shift, and spared one last glance at the limping genin, he decided they will report to the desk in the morning. It wasn’t like this mission was time sensitive.

He instructed them to wait for him by the Tower at nine in the morning while fully intending to ‘pull Kakashi-sensei’. That will teach them to suffer like he did while on this mission with them. And with that happy thought, he slouched his way to his boyfriend’s flat. Well, that is the official moniker for the flat Naruto lived in his entire life, discounting the time he spent with Jiraiya travelling around elemental countries and his brief time in orphanage and wilderness surrounding the village. But as far as Shikamaru’s parents were convinced, it was now Shikamaru’s as well. _Their_ flat. And yes, he did have a second set of toiletries and a toothbrush at that place. And yes, he did have a few articles of clothing in the cupboard as well, but that was just common sense. They were dating for a while now and even with Naruto’s obliviousness concerning societal expectations, he did not miss that one and convinced Shikamaru to stay at his place if only for privacy’s sake and the need to get away from Shikamaru’s parents. And what if he sometimes contributed to the rent? It’s not like it was a fortune and he did not do it regularly and his mother can stop it with that knowing look, alright!

Yes, Shikamaru knew he was deep in the river of denial. But what they had now suited them. Naruto, while undeniably in love, he could not hide that even if he wanted to, because he is an utterly awful liar, was trying to stay focused on his career. Although he was nominated for promotion to a jonin rank several times, the opinions across the village and the corps still varied and blocked the nominations three times now. Most shinobi their age couldn’t understand why. Naruto was a brilliant ninja. He was the last living apprentice of Jiraiya the Sannin and unquestionable ninjutsu and traps expert with connections. (And yes, regularly writing letters and calling the current Kazekage a friend _definitely_ counts as having powerful connections, Naruto.) Not to mention the ‘secret’ meetings and training that continued even to this time with the old sage and the toads. (Not like many people aside from Shikamaru knew about those.) It was a baffling and a rather sad affair, really. There weren’t many people their age that connected the dots of hatred correctly and probably even less contemplated why it escalated to these heights.

Shikamaru knew that at least Neji, Shino and Kiba correctly deduced Naruto’s connection to the Kyuubi. To his everlasting surprise, although it really shouldn’t have been, Shikamaru confirmed that out of his peers, Inuzuka Kiba figured it out first. Or at least suspected for years before others their generation did even though his deductions weren’t voiced until after their first disastrous chunin exam. The Inuzuka clan’s nose and the giant fox battling with the sand monster from Suna confirmed it for him just after the funeral of Sandaime. Kiba always found it unfair that the blond wasn’t promoted to chunin after this. If not from the exams, the field promotion would almost certainly qualify. Shino, who was always underestimated out of their friend circles, figured it out after Kiba shared some of his concerns over the failure of Naruto’s promotion during one of their joint training sessions. After coming to the right conclusion, Shino made Kiba shut up about the issue and convinced him to wait for Naruto to share this secret with them before saying anything. To anyone. And Kiba did. Shino, always the miracle worker. Although Kiba’s loyalty certainly played a big part in this secret keeping.

As Shikamaru reached the rundown building Naruto lived in, his thoughts strayed to Neji. The Hyuuga genius suspected for years and Shikamaru knew that if he wasn’t as awkward with human interaction as he was, he would confirm it years earlier. But Neji didn’t have it easy at all. Aside from his social awkwardness, which he masterfully hid behind the facade of stoicism if Shikamaru could say so himself, their disastrous chunin exams and his introduction to one Uzumaki Naruto was followed with reconsideration of decisions and opinions he carried for almost his entire life. And even if something shifted towards better in Neji’s family’s life, things still weren’t perfect, and he was struggling. The Nara never confirmed it verbally, but he could see the realisation in his eyes when he came to Naruto’s birthday party, just few months after Naruto’s long-awaited arrival back to Konoha.

The October festival of that year was chilly, the winter arriving too quickly for people’s taste, and the festival was a bit more subdued. After they all paid their respects, with Naruto and Tenten, both orphaned during this time of year due to the Kyuubi’s rampage, staying the longest, the party of eleven (and Sai trailing behind them bewilderedly) decided that instead of going through the food and entertainment stands, they could find a place to sit down and just have fun. Shikamaru, who was wearing his grandfather’s kimono, who must have had the hottest blood ever, because Shikamaru was slowly turning into an icicle, was pleased with this decision and they ended up in a cosy sushi restaurant where they easily accommodated their large group. Naruto, who was wearing a royal blue kimono Kakashi-sensei gifted him that morning that made his eyes pop, was on cloud nine, because the owner of the restaurant turned out to be a civilian merchant who settled down in Konoha only recently. The confused but very happy owner wished him happy birthday and something in Neji’s expression changed as he looked at the scene of a happily chatting Naruto and a confused if kind civilian who was glad people came to his restaurant on the day of the festival. Then he met Shikamaru’s hard stare just daring him to mention anything to Shikamaru’s (back then) completely brand-new boyfriend on his _birthday party_. Thankfully Neji, even with his lacklustre social skills, got the hint and shortly after that evening the two of them became drinking buddies. They never spoke about any of this out loud.

Speaking of the Hyuuga prodigy, if Shikamaru remembered correctly, and he did, then he was with Naruto on his last mission. In fact, Naruto was supposed to be back from it just the day Shikamaru was unwillingly sent off on the punishment trip from hell. As he quietly closed the doors to the flat he had to immediately disable various booby traps unless he wanted to raise alarm in the entire building and embarrass himself for life. Thankfully, he had become accustomed to this routine whenever he entered the small hallway of Naruto’s home. Naruto, after Shikamaru started to come over more often, liked to leave them for him to dismantle just for the heck of it. To be honest, Shikamaru was almost impressed with his reasoning of “keeping the intruders occupied, Shika!”, but he knew the truth. Naruto, slowly becoming master of sealing, could keep intruders out of his flat without the use of booby traps.

With a sigh, Shikamaru put the traps back in their place, just in case Naruto wanted to catch either Sakura or Iruka later that morning and surveyed the small hall and living space and searched for anything that would indicate Naruto came home safely.

Thanks to the widely opened window and a picture frame lying down on the small shelf installed just underneath the windowsill, he realised the answer immediately. He sighed again and once he removed his shoes made his way to the window. It was windy outside. The cold breeze bit Shikamaru’s cheeks and the Nara almost contemplated closing the window. Almost.

Instead he frowned as he surveyed the view of the village and picked up the beaten frame of a photograph displaying redheaded kunoichi with Konoha’s hitai-ate. Naruto looked just like her even if he didn’t think so. He placed the picture back to its rightful place in the small shrine and considered the arrangements. No wonder the picture, even surrounded by offerings and knickknacks Naruto left there, fell down so often. If he closed the window, Naruto’s mother wouldn’t be right next to her husband. Shikamaru closed his eyes to chase the image of photograph and the face carved into the mountain. Naruto must have spent hours angling the picture as he did and if the closed the windows, there would be a wooden frame in the way. And Naruto couldn’t do that to the people that brought him to this world.

Not that the blond Uzumaki ever shared this with Shikamaru out loud. He knew he didn’t have to. Shikamaru often righted the picture with the right angle and brought small offerings. Nothing else needed to be said.

With one last look on the shrine, Shikamaru turned towards the direction of bathroom and started to unbutton his vest and uniform. After a quick shower, he quietly slipped underneath the duvet where his boyfriend was quietly snoring. Naruto, now completely accustomed to Shikamaru’s presence in his space, turned in his sleep and leaned towards him – the new source of heat. Naruto’s apartment was cold most of the year. “You’re back,” Naruto murmured and Shikamaru hummed. Naruto didn’t answer, already back asleep. Shikamaru, eager to follow his example, closed his eyes. But despite the circumstances, sleep didn’t come to him easy.

No argument, the young Nara was glad he had the chance to meet Uzumaki Naruto. They grew up together in the academy; they became shinobi together; they fought together; they fell in love with each other. But in instances such as these, he wondered. And no one wondered quite like Nara Shikamaru.

At eight, just an hour before he was supposed the meet the genin from hell and only about four hours of sleep, Shikamaru was woken up by singing. Considering there was no shrieking or indignant screaming, Sakura must not have been the intended victim of the booby traps on the main entrance. Add to it that he could not hear any ongoing lectures about acting responsibly and as an adult, it seemed Iruka disabled the traps just as easily as Shikamaru did. Didn’t mean he was happy to be woken up by singing.

But he wasn’t surprised either. With a groan he dragged himself out of the bed and quickly put his trousers and shirt on. Just as he predicted, Iruka was in the kitchen with Naruto, probably cooking, but also making a big mess, and both were singing an unfamiliar song in a dialect Shikamaru was now at least a bit familiar with. Iruka often slipped into it when he was agitated, mused out loud, sang, or was telling stories. So, most of the time basically. But it was most present whenever he was with Naruto. Iruka, realising this slip, always smiled fondly when someone asked him why. And he got asked a lot. Especially when they were in academy. Oh boy, Shikamaru was very annoyed when Iruka was passing the same habit to Naruto back then. Naruto, who was already behind in reading required literature, was even trying to force himself to read in the dialect and tutoring sessions were thus very troublesome. Although Ino, the little traitress, very enjoyed these distractions. This annoyance continued until Shikamaru later discovered Iruka’s parents were refugees from Uzushiogakure and Iruka was just trying to pass as much of their heritage as he could. He couldn’t begrudge a person for that and felt guilty for a long time afterwards.

Whenever Iruka had a day off and couldn’t stand to be in his flat or around ‘other people’ (or that’s what he claimed, but Shikamaru, again, knew better), he organised a meet up with Naruto when they just did whatever came to their minds. Compared notes on traps, seals, watched movies, read books, cooked and in the worst instances, sang very loudly. Sometimes, they managed to do all of the above and those days were just plain exhausting. Shikamaru sincerely hoped they would limit today to only singing and… cooking?

“I really hope you were not trying to set the flat on fire while I was still asleep?” He said instead of greeting them like a functional social being. Iruka smiled sheepishly and Naruto just draped all of weight over Shikamaru. The brunet, who didn’t have the will to tolerate this on the best of days, dragged himself to the kotatsu Ino found for them cheaply when they tried to make Naruto’s flat more homey back when they were twelve. It was a miracle the thing was still standing if he was honest.

“We’re making katsuo!” Naruto exclaimed as Shikamaru dropped him to the ground and then swiftly followed him there. “Doesn’t really explain you two having straw too near the fire,” he yawned and settled himself underneath the kotatsu. Thank you, Ino. “It’s my mother’s recipe,” Iruka chirped. “I found them on the market, freshly caught. They only sell these once a year here, so I looked around in the market for some shiso and we’ll make these for dinner tonight. Maybe make some dashi, and whatever is left we’ll probably preserve for later. But for now, we are just practicing, I haven’t done this for a while.”

Naruto’s smile really was infectious as he finally properly welcomed Shikamaru back and told him how the last few days went. Apparently, Iruka’s aversion to ‘other people’ and his apartment grew because he Naruto apparently spend the last few days aggressively cooking Iruka’s family’s recipes. “Are you hungry? Of course, you are hungry! I made some sobagome zosui, you can have that for breakfast!” Naruto evidently got into this whole cooking thing. Normally, it’d be porridge, or boiled rice, maybe miso soup if they were feeling fancy. If not, it was cup ramen. Because what else.

Not that he’s complaining about his boyfriend’s enthusiasm. Nowadays, these kinds of recipes you could only enjoy in restaurants unless you fancied to go to Mist or Wave for a meal. Which none of them really did. Disregarding Mist on the obvious reasons, Wave was a still recovering country and there were not many sights you could really enjoy. (Aside from that bridge named after Uzumaki Naruto because that kind of thing only happened to him.) How many things were lost when Uzushio was decimated? Too many. And what was left? Barely used recipes and occasional slip to a dialect foreign to Konoha. His eyes strayed towards the shrine by the window. Oh, and let’s not forget the dead they couldn’t even honour properly.

Iruka, as if sensing his morbid thoughts, dropped the dish in front them. “Eat, Shikamaru has to go soon.” Naruto frowned. “Why?” he whined. “He just came home!” Iruka smiled icily. “Because I passed the genin he was on mission with on my way here. And we wouldn’t want him to be too late, would we?” Shikamaru, instead of explaining that to his confused lover, dug in. It was actually very good.

After they debriefed the shinobi on desk duty, Shikamaru only an hour and a half late, an older chunin stopped Shikamaru before he could escape and check if the building Naruto lived in was on fire or not. “You are required for another briefing, Shikamaru-san!” He was told icily by the man maybe fifteen years his senior and then a scroll was pressed into his hands. Shikamaru recognised the seal. He groaned. It was jounin promotion recommendations committee member appointment. Why him? But it seemed his reluctance made the chunin view him in a better light.

“I know,” the man nodded. “It’s bad enough when… _he_ became a chunin! But now a jounin? I say, Godaime-sama is too kind to him!” Working with Senju Tsunade four days a week, Shikamaru could say she is not too kind on anyone when it comes to working, but if that last part didn’t tip him off, the rest of the sentence really did. “Oh, please,” he sneered at the chunin. Childish, the lot. And stupid and ignorant. And Shikamaru never used those terms lightly.

He opened the scroll more eagerly and noted with glee that Naruto passed the second part of selection. He never got that far; he was always a few signatures below the recommendation part – first part. It seemed someone was very determined to get him the signatures this time. Now all was needed were qualified and randomly selected shinobi reviewing Naruto’s records and impartially deciding if his abilities could promote him to jounin – by this point, unless something was very wrong, people always advanced. And at this stage, the Hokage could veto the decision made by the committee. If not to jounin, Naruto could advance to at least Tokubetsu jounin. And that’s something that the Uzumaki just needed at this point in his career as shinobi.

And then his gaze fell at the date and time. Shikamaru was expected in the archive in less than five minutes. “Oh, please!” he repeated and shot the chunin another disdainful look. “What were you doing, strolling around?” He didn’t stick around to listen to excuses. Archives were not in this building. Not even on this street. How troublesome.

Shikamaru wasn’t surprised when he opened the doors and among the shinobi gathered found his father. Nara Shikaku raised an eyebrow but otherwise didn’t comment on Shikamaru’s late arrival. The son didn’t even try to defend himself and plonked himself on the nearest chair. As he gazed at the shinobi gathered, he almost laughed out loud. Out of all the gathered, none of them would be judging impartially. Not that Naruto did not deserve that promotion. Aside from his father, the committee consisted of Yamanaka Inoichi, a man who used to babysit them all when they were in academy and wouldn’t be able to say no to this promotion and then face his daughter at home; Kurenai-sensei, who wouldn’t be able to justify herself to her team; Maito Gai-sensei, who adored Naruto after he beat some sense in Neji; a semi-retired jounin that used to supply Naruto with ramen but Shikamaru never knew by name; and Kakashi-sensei, who was pretending to sleep. Yeah, Shikamaru really deserved the raised eyebrows of his father if he was later than Hatake Kakashi. But wasn’t that what he planned to do this morning?

“Well then,” the retired jounin rasped, “shall we begin?”

Turns out, the committee job was the most tedious job in the world. They were to search the archive for example missions, evaluate character, loyalty to the village and many other things Shikamaru didn’t even knew were necessary. Kakashi-sensei, who looked moodier than usual, was sending his summons to find the relevant documents, but Shikamaru wasn’t so lucky and had to do it all by himself. And yes, he resented Kakashi-sensei a little bit. Wasn’t it enough that he woke up to singing this morning?

As Shikamaru gathered Naruto’s D-ranked mission records, which, why are those even relevant at this stage?, his father came closer and in a light manner, which immediately tipped Shikamaru off, said, “Troublesome, isn’t it?” Shikamaru, not in the mood to play one of his father’s mind games, not that they were ever harmful, just wearying, nodded. “Would you like to swap?” he asked and Shikamaru almost involuntarily straightened his shoulders. Now that was interesting.

“I have enough trouble with this. It feels like we are going to be here for ages.” And he wasn’t exaggerating. Kakashi-sensei took Team 7 for a mission at least ten times a week when he first took over. Did they even have time for training? Recalling Naruto grumbling, probably not.

“Yeah, thank god we have unlimited access to these scrolls.” Shikamaru hummed, as if this wasn’t any news to him. And it really wasn’t. It was all in the appointment scroll. “Do we have a time limit?” Because that was not a thing mentioned in the contract at all. The expiry dates. “Nah, we don’t have to say yes today.” At least he wasn’t pretending they wouldn’t say no. “Technically speaking, we have access even after this committee is disbanded. And we are able to make copies and keep them.”

Shikamaru wasn’t sure how he was feeling at this revelation, so he carefully said, “That could become a serious issue of security, don’t you think?” Shikaku nodded. “Yes, I should bring it up to Hokage-sama when I see her in a few days. Until then, it’s completely legal.” Shikamaru swallowed, thinking of the cold flat and beaten frame. “What do you have?” he asked his father. “Family and friends, to check loyalty.”

Naruto and Iruka barged in the apartment arguing about if it is important to have leeks in one’s fridge just as Shikamaru finished his work and loudly shut the window. The wood was warped and bent from never being shut and protested being shut, causing a lot of noise. Immediately, Naruto’s attention snapped to him and hurt filled his blue eyes to the brim.

“Why did you close the window? You know why I never close it!” His volume raised to uncomfortable levels, and that’s saying something when it comes to Naruto. Iruka, arms full of leeks, looked really uncomfortable as he stood by the doors, eyes flickering to it every few seconds, torn between a clearly awkward situation between partners and the need to be there for his little brother. Then he came to the decision and watched their every move, ready to do whatever would be required of him.

Shikamaru, not to be deterred, approached the blond and pressed a scroll to his hands. Naruto almost knocked him back in his haste to be away from him. And didn’t that hurt. But in his books, Shikamaru just broke a cardinal rule. “What is this?” he waved it around and Shikamaru shrugged as if this all wasn’t a big deal. “You’ve been promoted.” Naruto’s eyes widened and his shoulders slumped, fight partially avoided. Thank god. It would be troublesome to calm him down. “This is the certificate signed today and an invitation to the ceremony. Congratulations, elite jounin Uzumaki Naruto.”

Then, of course, Naruto had to jump at him and send them both crashing dangerously close to the kotatsu. And Shikamaru would have enjoyed it, had Iruka not been standing by the doors, coughing. “Oh, yeah, sorry, Iruka-sensei! Look, look! I’m a jounin!” In the same amount of time it took to tackle Shikamaru, Naruto was up and opening the scroll to show it to Iruka. “Yeah, I can see, congratulations!” Leeks and all, he hugged enthusiastic Naruto. “Why don’t you show it to your parents as well?” He suggested and Shikamaru is so glad Iruka as good as adopted Naruto.

“Oh, yeah, I will, I…” In the second that it took Naruto to comprehend what he was seeing, Shikamaru was once again reminded just why he loved the exuberant blond. The compassionate and strong individual, that survived so much. The child left alone in the whole world, the one that never stopped fighting and smiling for the others. He deserved to be fought for. He deserved to be cared for as well. And Shikamaru was glad he had the privilege to be loved and love in return.

And today, Shikamaru was able to give back. There, in brand new frames, side by side, just by the window, were photographs of Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato. Never to be affected by the wind again.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I am back at uni, because undergraduate just wasn't enough for me, I had to go for postgraduate as well. So... fics which I promised in summer will be coming over the new year if I am lucky.  
Also, I didn't check for mistakes yet. I might come back to that later if I have time. Sorry. 
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading! :)


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